Pump Up My Dance is a new high-energy series where some of the finest Irish and International dance masters test talented young dancers with the toughest routines they have ever encountered. Each show features a different dance style: Hip-Hop, Tap, Contemporary, Ballet, Jazz, Irish, Latin, Musical Theatre and Break Dance. In each show 20 hopefuls dance their hearts out and just like in a professional audition, the Dance Master narrows down the 20 promising young dancers and chooses his/her top five to perform in Smock Alley Theatre, just one week later. Drama and tensions are high as the Dance Studio becomes a pressure cooker where young dreams are realised, while others go home happy that they have had the chance to work with some of the leading figures in dance today.
Show 6: Contemporary with Samantha Lyons
Sam graduated from the College of Dance in 1994 and went on to specialise in contemporary dance and choreography at London Contemporary Dance School. She has worked with ground-breaking choreographers and was a soloist and co-choreographer in Stephen Koplowitz’s Genesis Canyon – Awarded Time Out Best Dance Production of 1996 – and ‘Babel Index’ 1998 for Dance Umbrella, U.K. Sam has extensive experience in teaching all age groups including LCDS’s Young Place and Evening School, London Junior Ballet and University College London. From hundreds of entries twenty teenage contemporary dancers from all around the country have been selected for this episode of Pump Up My Dance. In one day of masterclass, drills and dancing Sam will select a final five from this group to perform at Dublin’s Smock Alley theatre.
Contemporary Finalists: Muireann Howley (16) from Sandycove in Dublin, Emma Kennedy (15) from Carrickfergus in Co. Antrim, Nicole Wray (16) from Ballymena Co. Antrim, Lauren Daly (14) from Lucan Co. Dublin, Jessie James Morris Toolen (16) from Howth in Dublin.